Accessibility in Blackboard Learn with the Ultra Experience

Blackboard is committed to making the Ultra experience as accessible as possible.

Blackboard is fully committed to ensuring all products and services we deliver are usable and accessible to all users regardless of age, ability, or situation. In keeping with our strong tradition of leadership around accessibility, our products are designed and developed in accordance with the internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA as well as the Section 508 standards in the United States. A third party conducts regular audits of our software to ensure quality expectations are met and maintained.

Screen readers

For the best experience with your screen reader, use Firefox® and Jaws on a Windows® system, and use Safari® and VoiceOver on a Mac®.

About keyboard navigation

Industry standard keyboard interactions are used throughout Blackboard Learn with the Ultra experience to move between menus, open menus, and select items within a menu. Keyboard navigation patterns differ between browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. The interactions within any particular browser are common and consistent.

Global keyboard shortcuts

Global keyboard shortcuts have been established for common actions within Blackboard Learn.

Up and down arrows: Open drop-down lists that have an Apply or Go function to activate an option. Navigate the choices with the up and down arrows.

Open drop-down lists that do NOT have an Apply or Go function: Tab to the drop-down list and press Enter to open it. Use Alt/Option + the up and down arrows to select an option.

Mac keyboard navigation setup

If you are using a Mac with Firefox or Safari and are having difficulty navigating using your keyboard, review and update your operating system and browser settings. This ensures they are properly configured for keyboard navigation.

Content editor

The content editor in Blackboard Learn is based on third-party technology from TinyMCE. It provides accessible controls, as well as keyboard shortcuts for formatting content created within it. The content editor appears throughout your courses, such as when you participate in a discussion.

To use your keyboard to jump to the content editor toolbar, press ALT + F10. On a Mac, press Fn + ALT + F10. Use the arrow keys to select an option, such as a bulleted list.

Ultra Course View specific actions

Content page

On the Course Content page, you can use your keyboard to move an item to a new location, move an item into an expanded folder, and move a folder into another expanded folder. You can only have two levels of folders.

Tab to an item's move icon.

Press Enter to activate move mode.

Use the arrow keys to choose a location.

Press Enter to drop the item in the new location.

Original Course View specific actions

Keyboard accessible reordering

Wherever the drag-and-drop function exists to reorder items in a list, you have a keyboard alternative. The keyboard accessible reordering tool displays the items on the page as a list. You can use keyboard commands to reorder the items.

Statements regarding our product development initiatives, including new products and future product upgrades, updates, or enhancements represent our current intentions, but may be modified, delayed, or abandoned without prior notice and there is no assurance that such offering, upgrades, updates, or functionality will become available unless and until they have been made generally available to our customers.